The walk back to the main room was strange, from Trish's point of view. The short skirt she was wearing fluttered around her legs, and she quickly became aware that she was the only woman she saw wearing a skirt. There were plenty of people in the hallways, both men and women, but most of them were wearing uniforms and of those who weren't, the women were still wearing pants. It made her feel horribly exposed to be the only one in the area whose legs were showing.
When she finally spotted another woman in a skirt, far off down the hall to the right, at one of the intersections that Jordan took her through, her curiosity rose and she actually started to slow her pace for a second. As soon as her steps started to falter, she found herself dragged forward and swept up into Jordan's arms. She curled in on herself, immediately worried about his reaction, but he didn't do or say anything, he just carried her the rest of the way.
Which did give her even more of an opportunity to look around. The people passing her and Jordan all acknowledged him, and more than half of them gave her at least a quick smile or a nod. She wasn't sure how to respond, so she ended up turning her head towards his chest, letting her hair fall like a curtain in front of her face so that she wouldn't accidentally meet anyone's eyes. That didn't stop the smiles, although they weren't meeting her eyes anymore, but just smiling in her general direction. Some seemed amused by her presence, others looked fairly sympathetic.
She wondered if their sympathy might be enough to help lead to assistance in escaping this place.
The smell of food coming from the main room made her stomach rumble and she put her hand over it, feeling strangely embarrassed. Not that anyone seemed to notice.
Jordan led her into the room and straight up to the main dais where the Wolf was sitting with several other men and women. There was one seat still open, on the Wolf's right hand side. Trish could feel her muscles stiffening up as they approached and the Wolf's unnerving gaze swiveled to her. She found herself practically hugging Jordan's side, as if he were the safer of the two, trying to hide behind his arm.
When he glanced down at her, he didn't looked displeased by her position either.
Dread filled her as Jordan went to the empty chair and pulled her onto his lap, facing the table. Trish huddled against him, barely daring to breath as the Wolf continued to look at her. To her complete consternation, he looked her over before giving her a brief smile and turning away. Jordan ignored the Wolf's inspection, tucking Trish against him and reaching out to take a drink from the glass at his place.
"So, Jordan, finally got your girl?" The woman sitting beside them asked, grinning. It wasn't as easy to tell with everyone sitting down, but she seemed the smallest in stature. She had lightly tanned skinned, dark hair and eyes, and a kind of controlled confidence that Trish envied. Despite her size, she didn't seem like the kind of woman anyone would want to mess with.
"This is Trish. Trish, Zadia," Jordan said calmly. Hearing him say her name made Trish shiver all over again. She hadn't been aware he knew it, considering that this was the first time he'd actually said it.
"Nice to meet you, Trish," Zadia said, like this was a completely normal introduction.
Since Trish couldn't say the same and she didn't want to sound like a complete idiot she just murmured a soft, "Hello."
Fortunately neither of them seemed to require much from her; they immediately fell into a discussion about some mission that was currently in progress. Trish listened to their conversation with half an ear, while listening to the Wolf talking to the man on the other side of him with her other ear. Both conversations sounded important and yet they were all speaking so vaguely that she didn't really understand what she was listening to.
Food arrived about five minutes after they'd sat down and Jordan shifted Trish on his lap so that she was facing Zadia, allowing him to hand feed her. Trish gripped the fabric of her skirt. She hated taking the small bites of food from his fingers and the way he occasionally pushed the tips of his fingers into her mouth or traced her swollen lips. She hated the way Zadia watched them with amusement. Not mocking amusement, but the amusement of someone who thinks what they're witnessing is cute or sweet but out of character. It made her want to kick and scream and cry, but she was too terrified to do any of that.
She was sharply aware of the Wolf sitting directly behind her, of Jordan's strong arm around her waist, his muscled thighs under her slightly sore bottom. Whenever she shifted, she could feel the plug in her little hole, reminding her of the mastery over her body that he'd already demonstrated.
They'd been there about twenty minutes as Trish had shifted uncomfortably, forced herself to eat from Jordan's fingers and drink when he lifted the cup, and listen to as much conversation as she could. It had become apparent to her that everyone at the table were leaders. Beneath the Wolf, to be sure, but these were his trusted lieutenants, his go-to men and women. All supremely confident, all deadly. They moved with the same kind of lethal grace that Jordan did.
They were all also strangely amused by Trish, in the same way Zadia was. It made her feel a little like a bug under a microscope, being observed by everyone around them, which just increased her anxiety.
Then the Wolf turned his attention back to Jordan and Trish, making her want to crawl under the table and hide.
"Your girl is uncomfortable with an audience," the Wolf observed, studying Trish. She shrank back against Jordan, since crawling under the table wasn't an option.
"She'll get used to it," Jordan said affably, which didn't soothe Trish at all. But she was too scared to kick up any fuss about it. Instead, she just froze as Jordan casually slid his hand into the top of her dress and started caressing her breast. "Are your Pet and Toy settled in?"
"Oh yes," the Wolf replied, his eyes dropping to where Jordan's hand was only momentarily. Trish felt frozen, her hands clenched by her sides as Jordan caressed her, squeezing and kneading the soft flesh of her breast. To her horror, she could feel him starting to harden beneath her. "They had a very successful visit to the Doctor. Although, if your intel is correct, we'll need to intercept a shipment of the new compound soon."
